Millionaire art dealer Charles Saatchi testifies he has no proof his celebrity ex-wife Nigella Lawson ever took drugs — and he still “absolutely adores” her.

Nigella Lawson, TV cooking personality, in the Toronto Star test kitchen last February during a book tour to promote Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes. Months later her marriage had fallen apart, and now her former personal assistants allege she used drugs regularly.

LONDON—Millionaire art dealer Charles Saatchi told a British court on Friday he had no proof that his celebrity ex-wife, TV chef Nigella Lawson, ever took drugs — days after the release of an email in which he referred to the celebrity chef as drug-addled.

He was testifying Friday at the fraud trial of two former personal assistants, who are accused of spending the former couple’s money on luxury goods. They deny any wrongdoing.

Earlier this week, the former employees — sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo — alleged, as part of their defence in the fraud trial, that Lawson was a regular user of cocaine and other drugs.

Lawson, often nicknamed the “Domestic Goddess” after the title of one of her early bestselling recipe books, is a cookery author who is popular in Britain and North America.

Saatchi and Lawson ended their 10-year marriage in July, and he accepted a police caution after newspapers published pictures of him with his hands around his ex-wife’s neck at a London restaurant a month earlier.

“I have never, never seen any evidence of Nigella taking any drug whatsoever,” Saatchi told Isleworth Crown Court in west London, where the trial is taking place.

“Are you asking me whether I think that Nigella truly was off her head? Not for a second. Over this whole period she was writing books very successfully and appearing on television.”

Saatchi’s testimony contrasted with an email dated Oct. 10 that was read out to jurors in which he accused Lawson of being “off her head” and referred to her as “Higella.”

“I can only laugh at your sorry depravity. Of course now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you … were so off your head on drugs that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked,” the email read.

Saatchi explained the discrepancy by saying he was upset at the time he wrote it.

“I wasn’t really laughing,” he said. “I am utterly bereft that this private email to Nigella has come back to haunt us both.”

Saatchi, 70, said on Friday he still “absolutely adores” Lawson despite their very public divorce.

“I’m utterly heartbroken that I have lost Nigella and I wish this past year had never happened. I absolutely adore Nigella and I’m broken-hearted to have lost her.”

The Grillo sisters, who worked for Lawson for over a decade, are accused of using credit cards given to them by Saatchi and Lawson to spend more than £685,000 ($1.1 million) on themselves over four years.

They deny the accusations. Their lawyers have claimed there was a “tacit understanding” in the Saatchi-Lawson household that the sisters were allowed to spend what they liked as long as they didn’t tell anyone about Lawson’s alleged drug use.

The court has been told by the prosecution that in the four months to June 2012 alone, Francesca Grillo, 35, spent an average of £48,000 per month and 41-year-old Elisabetta £28,000.

At various times, the court has heard, the sisters spent lavishly on flights to New York, hotel stays, designer handbags and expensive clothes.

When Saatchi learned the amount the Grillos were spending, he said he thought they were being “naughty” and should accept penance for their actions.

He told the Italian sisters they could pay back the money they owed by accepting a 50-per-cent wage cut and continuing to work for the family but said his then-wife disagreed.

“She was very cross with me,” he told the court. “She said, ‘How could you do that? I would never have them in my house again and neither would the children.’ ”

Lawson is due to be called as a witness again next week when the trial resumes on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the trial hear from an accountant for Lawson and Saatchi that the Grillo sisters were spending on average £76,000 a month using the couple’s credit cards.

Rahul Gajjar told jurors he had suspicions about the sisters’ spending habits but didn’t tell his employers because it was too trivial.

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